Elder Freire Joins Bellator Lightweight Tourney

Patricky
Freire will join his brother, Patricio
Freire, in Bellator's upcoming series of tournaments, as the
elder “Pitbull” was officially announced by the promotion on Friday
as a participant in its fourth-season lightweight tourney.

The promotion made the announcement Friday morning via press
release. Having competed exclusively in Brazil during his five-year
professional career, Freire will make both his Bellator and his
U.S. debut in 2011. Freire rides a three-fight winning streak
heading into the tournament.

“I’m very anxious to show fans in the United States what I'm
capable of,” said Freire in the press release. “Ever since I was a
kid, I've always wanted to fight at a really high level, and now I
will with Bellator. I have always trained and fought very hard, and
now it's time to test myself in deeper waters.”

Six combatants have now been confirmed for the lightweight
tournament. The once-beaten Team Nogueira representative joins
Olympic judoka Ferrid
Kheder and former WEC champion Rob
McCullough, among others, in the lightweight draw.

As with all of Bellator’s eight-man tournaments, the fighter who is
able to win three consecutive bouts will be awarded $100,000 in
total pay and become the No. 1 contender for Eddie
Alvarez’s title. Season four begins with
Bellator 35 March 5 and will showcase all four welterweight
quarterfinals. Bellator's fourth-season events will be broadcast
live on MTV2.

Freire's younger sibling, Patricio, was a finalist in the
promotion's second-season featherweight tournament, falling to
current Bellator king Joe Warren by
split decision at Bellator 23. Now he will have another shot at
capturing Bellator gold in Season four, as the younger Freire joins
the likes of Wilson Reis
and Georgi
Karakhanyan in the tournament field.

Reader comments are active below. Register an opinion by signing
in with your Facebook, Twitter, Google or Yahoo! account.